Erie Middle School Tiger Community, Second semester is off to a great start. The staff is working hard to chal-lenge all students at their appropriate levels. The students are working hard and making a commitment to their education. During the week of March 10

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students will be taking the CSAP tests. All grade levels will be assessed in Math, Reading, and Writing. Erie Middle School has performed well on the CSAP historically. Please encourage your students to try their hardest as well as get enough rest and eat well in preparation for the CSAP assessments. Thanks for your support. In April, 7

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grade students will take the CMAS Assessment for Social Studies and 8

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grade will take the CMAS for Science. Look for information to come in the April Newsletter. Students are beginning to sign up for classes for the 2014-2015 School Year. Our counselors have visited with our current students as well as our incoming 6

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grade to explain course offerings. The students have been given a course request sheet. If you have any questions please call the EMS counseling office. The coun-selors from Erie High came to our building to work with our 8

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grade students as they registered for High School classes. Parent/Teacher conferences were a success. A lot of great discussions cen-tered on student progress were held. If you missed these conferences and would still like to meet with teachers, please call the school to arrange a conference. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Todd Bissell EMS Principal

From the desk of the Assistant Principal

Did you know that Erie Middle School is a Pre-AP focus school? What does that even mean? Pre-AP (Pre-

Advanced Placement) is part of the College Board’s College Readiness System that pre-

pares students for success in Advanced Placement (AP) classes in high school, college, and beyond. The Pre-AP program includes a rigorous curriculum, which provides our students the gateways to op-portunities in high school and beyond. When I was a sophomore in High School I remember a day very clearly that changed the course

of my education. In Mr. Starkey’s Sophomore English class he asked each of us to turn over the paper we were working on and write “yes.” Mr. Starkey had asked us to write “yes” if we wanted to be in

Honors/AP English. I hesitated for a moment trying to decide if I thought I could do that level of work

finally deciding to take the risk and write “YES!!!!” on the back of my paper. That single decision put

me on the path to become an AP English student in High School, receive college credit prior to entering college, and become prepared with the skills to write the highest scoring essay for entrance into an ad-vanced level Literature course in college as a Freshman. The strong reading and writing skills I learned through my AP experience put me on the path to not only obtaining an undergraduate degree, but a

Master’s and Doctorate degree as well.

We are fortunate in the Erie feeder system to offer this unique opportunity to give students in middle school the skills to put them on the path towards succeeding in AP classes in high school. We believe in giving students the skills and opportunities to have every pathway open to them. The expe-

rience I had with AP doesn’t have to be a singular experience; your student has the opportunity